Eric kept on reading his book all the way to his aunt’s house. He was feeling mixed emotions; he missed Kyo, he missed Minwoo and Sunho, he missed his room. But he wanted to meet his aunt and uncle.

“Is everything okay son?” His mother asked when they heard him sighed.

“Mom, would they recognize me?” Eric asked while looking out the window.

“Of course they would.” Eric nodded. “Did I tell you they have a son a year younger than you?” He widened his eyes. “You can play with him while we’re staying there.”

“That’s okay. I have my books right here.” Eric answered, patting the bag next to him.

“Hey, it’s summer. It’s time to play outside, explore the world.” His father responded, but Eric just sighed. He then continued looking at his book, while his mind was somewhere else. Soon they arrived at a huge mansion. There were a few people already standing in front of the door, waiting for them. “Be nice son. Smile.” His father reminded as they got off the car. Eric was the last to get off, and he was welcomed by a woman.

“My nephew!” The woman hugged Eric tightly, and Eric did too for it felt like he was hugging his own mother. “You’ve grown up to be a handsome young man.” The woman let Eric go and ruffled his hair. Eric looked at the woman, smiling but confused. “Oh. I’m Aunty Hyesun. You still remember me right?”

“Honey, we last saw him when he was just a baby.” The man beside Aunty Hyesun replied, earning chuckles from Eric’s parents. “Junghyuk, is it? I’m your Uncle Pilhyun.” The man hugged Eric.

“He really doesn’t remember us.” Aunty Hyesun spoke seeing Eric’s confused state. The adults laughed.

“Junghyuk!” Eric turned when he heard a voice. “I missed you Junghyuk!” It was his Uncle Jihoon. Eric smiled as Uncle Jihoon lifted him up.

“Uncle, it’s Eric.” Eric whispered at his uncle, earning laughter from the young man.

“Oh I forgot.” Uncle Jihoon put Eric down. “Uncle Pilhyun, Aunty Hyesun, this is Eric.” The young man introduced Eric in teasing tone, while Eric just smiled bashfully.

“He said Eric is easier to call. And sounds cooler.” Eric’s mother said, making everyone there laughed. Eric’s face became even redder. “Where’s my nephew?”

“He’s feeding the horses at the stable. Come on in.” Uncle Pilhyun invited the family inside. The maids then showed them their room. Eric was given a single room, opposite of the young master’s. As he was taking his bags into the room, his books dropped onto the floor.

“Oh no.” Eric tried to pick them up; seeing his hands full, he brought his bags first into the room. Suddenly he felt like going to the toilet; so he ran, leaving his scattered books behind. Two minutes later, he came back, picked his books and put them on the table in his room. As he looked around the room, he saw a few dolls on the bed. His heart broke. Eric took one doll and hugged it. “I missed you even more Kyo.”

When he heard a door closed, he sighed and got off the bed. He tried to find his favorite book for he was missing his best friend, but the book wasn’t there. He ran outside the room and searched again. Seeing no sign of the book, he went downstairs to ask the maids. And the answer was disappointing. “I was just here for an hour, and I already lost my favorite book. Clumsy Eric.” He hit his own head and went to search again at his room. Feeling frustrated for not finding the book, he gave up and went downstairs for lunch. He saw everyone was already there, so he quickly took a seat at the empty chair. He greeted the boy beside him, but the latter ignored him. ‘Be nice Eric. Smile.’ Eric remembered his father’s words, so he just kept cool and looked up front. He was trying to grab the glass when the boy beside him suddenly got up from his seat.

“What’s wrong son?” Eric heard his Aunty Hyesun spoke to the boy, so he turned to look. The moment his eyes landed on the boy’s face, his heart dropped, his brain stopped working, his hands froze, and his legs weakened. He wanted to run to the boy but his body couldn’t move. Seeing the boy just stood there staring at him, with an angry shock face, Eric wanted to cry.

“My bracelet.” Eric’s mind started working again when he heard the boy’s voice. “He has my bracelet.” Eric was shocked when he realized the boy didn’t recognize him. And the angry look on the boy’s face only made Eric more confused.

“What?” Aunty Hyesun got up from her chair and walked over to the two boys. She tried to look at where her son was pointing, only to see a similar bracelet like his son’s on Eric’s wrist. “It couldn’t be. Son, he must have bought a similar one.” Eric’s aunt assured his son and pulled him back to his seat. “Sorry.” She spoke to the others before she too went back to hers. But all this while, Eric couldn’t stop staring at the boy; he thought his soul had left his body. He tried to lean closer to the boy, and carefully smelled him without anyone noticed. A smile then flashed on his face.

“What are you doing?” Eric stopped moving when the boy spoke to him. He was now frozen in his spot. Seeing the boy’s face so close to him and smelling the scent he had missed the most, brought him to tears of happiness.

“Sorry.” Eric replied and fixed his position. The lunch went on somewhat smoothly; the adults were talking and laughing, ignoring the two boys who didn’t even speak a word to each other.

Eric then went to his room; he needed to think about what had happened during lunch. He knew the boy was his best friend. He knew it so well.